The Monday After: A Coming Home Contest

Stark County was well-represented when the Cleveland Browns played the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game 50 years ago.

Gary Brown

Stark County was well-represented when the Cleveland Browns played the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game 50 years ago.

“For the local fans, the game will have considerable appeal. Three Stark County area products will be in the Browns’ lineup,” said an article in The Repository on Sept. 8, 1963, the day of the game.

“Vince Costello of Magnolia and Jim Houston of Massillon will be at the linebacker spots. Dick Schafrath of Wooster will be at offensive tackle,” the article noted. “Houston and Schafrath played on the Fawcett Stadium turf during their high school careers. Costello will be playing in Fawcett Stadium for the first time.”

Schafrath was born in Canton, the article noted, before he headed to Wooster High School. He was in his fifth year with the Browns in 1963. He went on to play at Ohio State.

Houston, another Buckeyes star and a member of a “football-famous family” in Massillon, the newspaper noted, was the Browns first draft choice in 1960. He followed his brother, Lin Houston, to the Browns.

Costello, who went on the play at Ohio University after starring in high school in Magnolia, was in his seventh season with Cleveland in 1963.

A fourth player, Tom Goosby of Alliance who played at Baldwin-Wallace College, was a rookie whose balky knee was giving him trouble in his quest to make the Browns squad during exhibition games. He was hoping to see some action in the Sunday game before the final cut the following Tuesday.

Browns staff members who would be making that cut for the Browns five decades ago also included three Stark County products — guard coach Fritz Heisler, defensive coach Howard Brinker of Massillon and personal director Paul Bixler, the former Canton McKinley High School coach from Louisville.

STEELERS FAVORED

Browns fans attending the contest in Fawcett Stadium, where the new Pro Football Hall of Fame was dedicated the day before, found that a traditional foe was favored. “Steelers Are Given Edge In Hall of Fame Tilt,” a headline in The Repository said.

“The Cleveland Browns pinned back the ears of the Pittsburgh Steelers three times by decisive scores last season — once in an exhibition game — but they’ll be three-point underdogs Sunday at the Hall of Fame game,” wrote Repository sportswriter Chuck Such on Saturday, Sept. 7, 1963.

The sportswriter noted that Browns head coach Blanton Collier was going to start Jim Ninowski at quarterback, but still frequently use Frank Ryan in that position during the game.

“Our plan is to use two quarterbacks,” Collier told Such. “We’ll continue with it all season. Pro football has developed to such an extent that there’s more rush on the quarterbacks. They are forced to run more with the football and the chance for injury is higher.”

Collier said the same principle would be used at all positions in an attempt to create more interchangeable parts to the Browns squad.

“A player can’t develop sitting on the bench. He must play.”

GAME BEGINS

The fifth exhibition game for each of the teams kicked off at 2 p.m. that Sunday with both the Browns and the Steelers boasting pre-season records of 2-2.

“Appropriately enough, they are the two NFL teams bordering Canton and provided local fans with one of the long-time arch rivalries,” said The Repository. “To listen to the opposing coaches talk about their opponents, the words ring of the mutual admiration society.”

Pittsburgh had “a good tough team,” said Collier. Cleveland looked like “a greatly improved team,” said Pittsburgh coach Buddy Parker. He said the Browns were “impressive in those last two games.”

Still, optimism was “over-flowing on both squads,” a Repository sportswriter said. Then the game began.

Only one team left with a lot of confidence for the future.

“The Browns lost, 16-7, to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the final score fails to present a true picture,” reported Charlie Powell in The Repository. “Only twice all afternoon did the Browns push the pigskin past the midfield stripe.

“It was not until after the Pittsburghers locked up the decision — with their only touchdowns giving them a 16-0 advantage at the outset of the final period — that the Browns came to life before a shirt-sleeved crowd of about 17,000 and nation-wide television audience.”

BRIGHT SIDE

Those looking for a silver lining could point to the second-half performance of quarterback Ryan, who “engineered an aerial barrage that kept Blanton Collier’s men from drawing a blank,” The Repository’s story reported.

“For his second-half effort, Ryan came up with 16 completions in 19 attempts for 182 yards, including a 30-yard payoff pitch to (end) Jim Hutchinson,” the newspaper said. “Ryan threw to (end, Gary) Collins three times for gains amounting to 33 yards before his eighth straight strike, to Hutchinson, produced the touchdown. The rookie raced down the left side, then cut to the middle to make the catch in front of the goal posts. Lou ‘The Toe’ Groza converted to make the final score 16-7.”

Still, though Ryan’s effort seemed to open for questions, Collier’s plan to use a pair of quarterbacks — Ryan would end up playing in 13 games that season and Ninowski only four — “outside of the final period sortie by the Browns, the Steelers were dominant.”

This Hall of Fame game result was not necessarily indicative of the future, however.

Cleveland won the first regular season game against Pittsburgh on Oct. 5, 1963, by a score of 35-23. The Steelers emerged from the second game that season with a 9-7 victory.

The Browns finished the 1963 season with a record of 10-4. The Steelers had a record of 7-4-3.

Over the next decade, Cleveland would win 14 of the 20 games in which the Browns played the Steelers — seven in a row from 1967 to 1970 — with Pittsburgh winning only six.